The former Lee’s Inn in the Lyndenbrook commercial area on the city’s north side, which closed near the end of 2013, is undergoing remodeling and is set to reopen as Cardinal Inn & Suites. A sign with the new name replacing the Lee’s Inn name has already been installed.

Not far away, Baymont Inn & Suites — which operated locally for many years as Signature Inn — is on the auction block.

They’re the latest in a series of changes for Muncie’s lodging business, which will see another major change in fall 2015 with the opening of a Courtyard by Marriott downtown. Construction of the hotel and hospitality industry training center for the disabled is set to begin in August.

Lee’s, 3302 N. Everbrook Lane, closed in December and its operators posted a note on a door that the hotel had closed for remodeling. But the note prompted a “red tag” action from the city building commissioner’s office because, at the time, no application for remodeling permit had been requested.

In recent days, work has begun at the hotel, which opened in 1986 and was expanded to 92 rooms in 1988.

A longtime Muncie business owner said Monday she has bought it and is reopening the former Lee’s as Cardinal Inn & Suites.

“Everybody was shocked when it closed,” said Farida Halim, new owner of Cardinal Inn. “It did good business.”

Halim has a lot of experience in the local lodging industry. Since the mid-1980s, she’s owned the Budget Motel on East 29th Street. Halim also owns nearby efficiency apartments and a banquet hall in the former Eavey’s Supermarket.

The Cardinal Inn should be open within a week or 10 days, Halim said Monday, adding that new paint and carpeting are among the improvements to the former Lee’s Inn.

City building commissioner Craig Nichols said Monday that proper permits had been set up for the Cardinal Inn project.